NOTICE OF THE SHAKSPEARE TERCENTENARY. 

[Communicated by William Reed Dbane, to the N. E, Historical and Genealogical 
Register'ior April, 1865.] 

Tercentenary Celebration of the Birth of Shakspeare, by the New Eng- 
land Historic- Genealogical Society at Boston, Mass., April 23, 1864. 
Boston : Printed for the Society by George C. Eand & Avery, 
1864. 8vo. pp. 11. 

Lowell Shakspeare Memorial. Exercises at the Ter- Centenary Celebration 
of the Birth of William Shakspeare, April 23, 1864, by the Citizens 
of Lowell, Mass. Lowell : Stone & Huse. 1864. 8vo, pp. 51. 

The above are the onlj- celebrations on this continent of the Tercentenary of the Birth 
of Shakspeare whose proceedings we have met with in book form. It would seem 
that as time goes on, this universal genius is more and more appreciated. At one period 
his light had almost gone out. " The course of thought," says Mr. Clarke, " in regard 
to our poet has been like the course of his own brook — falling at one time over rough 
pebbles and hard critical rocks, but again resuming its sweet and placid course with an 
ever deepening, ever enlarging volume of water. The opinion of the world, under the 
guidance of the greatest thinkers, has tended more and more to this result — that Wil- 
liam Shakspeare stands at the summit of human intelligence." 

The appreciation of his genius is spreading throughout the world. It is "for all 
time " and every country. The lines originally applied to the dust of WicklLffe which 
was cast upon the surface of the little brook called the Swift that runs into the Avon, 
may well apply to Shakspeare' s words as emblematical of their spread into all the coun- 
tries and languages of the world : 

" The Avon to the Severn runs, 
r ^ The Severn to the sea ; 

And Shakspeare's words shall spread abroad 
Wide as the waters be." 

We quote the following from the introduction of the Boston celebration by the 
New England Historic- Genealogical Society : — 

'♦ At the time Shakspeare wrote, probably the whole number of people who spoke 
the English Language did not exceed those now speaking it in a single State in our 
Union ; and nearly all were in that « little world,' that • sceptred isle ' of England. 
This number has increased from about four millions to more than sixty millions. 

«' ' In the new world,' says Lord John Russell in his Life of Thomas Moore, ' mil- 
lions are added every year to those whose government and institutions are American, 
but whose literature is English ; and in these millions there will be communities holding 
aloft the literature of England through the ocean of time — who will neither be subject 
to conquest by a superior state, like the Greeks, nor exposed to the invasion of barba- 
rians, like the Romans.' " 

In this country there were celebrations of the Tercentenary of the birth of Shaks- 
peare in several States in our Union — and one or more were observed on the very 
borders if not in the lines of our army. On that day there was a German celebration 
of this anniversary in Philadelphia — a foundation for a monument was laid in New 
York — there was one or more celebrations at the West — and one in Norfolk, Va., by 
Union men, on what was recently claimed as secession territory, beside the celebrations 



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014 156 805 A • 



at Boston and at Lowell, as tlie titles of the volumes de&criptive of them at the head 
of this article denote. 

Even in the midst of our present conflict it was appropriate that we should pitch 
our tents for a day, and pay due homage to Shakspeare, fix his name more indelibly 
upon our standard, and draw strength, courage and inspiration t/om his burning words, 
that we may the more reverently and worthily bear aloft and onward the litera- 
ture of the language in which he vn-ote to the coimtless millions who are to come 
after us on this great western continent. 

We find the Tercentenary of Shakspeare's birth in Boston recorded in a type and 
style worthy of the character celebrated, and the addresses there printed. This record 
will be thus pleasantly preserved, and we doubt not that if some youth of 1864 should 
have his life lengthened to a Parr with old Thomas, he will find a copy extant on 
the anniversary a hundred years hence. Twenty-five copies were printed on large and 
elegant paper, and were eagerly taken by Bibliophilists who are calculating confidently 
upon a large advance in their value by the next centennial celebration. Rev. Dr. 
Clarke and Mr. Sheppard had a few copies of their productions printed separately. 

We happen to have learned of the great appreciation of this volume from several 
sources of high authority. — Rev. Dr. Osgood writes of Mr. Clarke's address : — " It 
is a gem of thought ;" and William Cullen Bryant, that it is " one of the ablest and 
most entertaining things of the kind that I have ever read." Dr. Clarke is truly poeti- 
cal and poetically true in his masterly scanning of the intellect and genius of Shaks- 
peare. We would gladly quote largely from his words, but we should hardly know 
— had we room — where to begin or where to end. We rejoice that the Society were 
able to celebrate the occasion in so appropriate a manner, and to clothe the words of 
the authors — Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Mr. Sheppard the Librarian, and Rev. F. 
W. Holland — with a dress so inviting. 

Lowell, that city of spindles, which has grown up in forty years from a wilder- 
ness — one of the wonders which Shakspeare's philosophy never dreamt of — also cele- 
brated the Tercentenary of his birth. The principal address upon that occasion was 
by Rev. William S. Bartlet, of Chelsea. Mr. Bartlet^vas one of the earliest to suggest 
the celebration of the anniversary in Boston. There is much to commend in his ad- 
dress. He considers Shakspeare to be almost the creator of the language in which he 
wrote and which he used with the utmost skilfulness. He dwells upon the wide range 
cf his observation ; his great versatility ; his identifying himself with his characters ; 
his strong common sense ; his deep knowledge of human nature ; and upon the 
facts that the words of no viTiter have been so mcorporated into the English language 
as those of Shakspeare ; that he delineates the course of events and the experience of 
individuals with a truthfulness almost startling ; that he is when thoughtfully studied 
the truest and sternest of all uninspired moralists ; that he never palliates vice or ridi- 
cules virtue, and that therefore, while our language shall last, Shakspeare must remain 
unobscured and immortal. 

The services at Lowell commenced with opening remarks by the President, Hon. 
Elisha Huntington, singing and prayer, preceding the oration. The festivities of the 
day were closed by a dinner, toasts and a humorous song or two, and after-dinner 
speeches by some of its distinguished citizens, several of which are printed in this 
•'Lowell Shakspeare Memorial." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




